Toro Albalá, Montilla-Moriles: Vintage masterpieces from 'the' PX specialist

"The firm own 45ha of vines and may be small, but the wines are exemplary. The international fame of the bodega probably rests on the quality of its fabulous old PX dulces, including legendary vintage wines..." John Radford, The New Spain.
 
While the drier side of Sherry may always polarise wine drinkers, we've never known anyone to turn down a glass of dessert P.X. This stands to reason; heady, sweet and luscious, Pedro Ximénez is the chocolate of the wine world and everyone likes chocolate, don't they? Another part of the attraction is the uncanny ability of the best P.X.’s to remain sophisticated and complex while evoking all those aromas and flavours that can bring our childhood food memories flooding back. Caramel, cocoa, treacle, raisin, fruit cake, liquorice, etc. We could go on.
 
The first key to Toro Albalá's reputation lies in their ability to balance the extraordinary sun-ripened richness and depth of old vine P.X. with a bright, savoury quality which never allows the wines to veer into the cloying end of the spectrum. This is managed though a strict quality control that few in the region can, or are unwilling to, match,... read more